Climatic change caused by global warming has been implicated in an increase in drought conditions as well as the depletion of aquifers, ground water, and irrigation systems. Elevated temperatures contribute to the melting of fresh water reserves in glaciers and ice caps and cause these reserves to flow into the oceans—reducing fresh water available for human consumption. Increases to global population have drastically increased consumption of water. It has been estimated that by 2030, global population will double to 12 billion people—doubling present water consumption. In addition, runoff caused by development and urbanization has increased significantly which results in the pollution of rivers, streams, and oceans. Increased runoff further stresses present storm sewer and water treatment plants which may increase in the frequency and severity of flooding. It has been predicted that by 2025—in just 16 years—nearly ⅓ of the population will lack access to drinking water.
Practicing water conservation may reduce these and other negative consequences of water consumption. Rain catchment/storage systems can facilitate water conservation by storing water that would otherwise be fed into the storm drain system for use in watering lawns and other plantings. Conventionally, barrels may be connected to gutters or other such rain catchment systems. Unfortunately, these conventional rain barrels are typically re-purposed from other uses and lack particular features to be successfully employed as rain catchment devices. Furthermore, the connection from the rain catchment system to the rain barrel used in conventional rain catchment/storage systems fail to provide for specific needs of a rain catchment/storage system. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide for a rain catchment/storage system that is capable of overcoming the disadvantages described herein at least to some extent.